RAYMOND, Minn. – Officials say at least 22 cars carrying ethanol and corn syrup derailed Thursday morning in Raymond, Minnesota.
Residents in the small town about two hours west of Minneapolis evacuated after the derailment sparked a fire, leading Gov. Tim Walz to reassure residents that the train cars would not explode.
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“During the clean-up, you’ll see a little more burn-off. The fires will get a little bigger again,” Walz said.
The Raymond Fire Department said the evacuation was a precaution, and no injuries were reported.
Residents were able to return to their homes around 11 a.m.
“The safety of the community is our utmost priority, and as we thought through in consultation with not only the local sheriff but also the various local agencies that we consulted with, and then wanted to get our expert firefighters and hazmat responders out here to make sure we looked at it, to make sure it was safe,” said Matt Garland, vice president of operations for BNSF Railway. “We have deemed it safe.”
Authorities are investigating what caused the derailment.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg made a statement Thursday about the derailment, which comes after another major derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, that has created major disruptions in that community.
Buttigieg explained that in an ordinary year, there are roughly three derailments a day, and severe derailments, like those in Ohio and Minnesota, are invested by the National Transportation Safety Board.
“Believe it or not, it used to be about five times that level in the 1980s. We want to see that level keep going down and in order to make sure that happens, we need to raise the bar, in my view, on railroad safety,” Buttigieg said.
He spoke about bipartisan legislation in the Senate that would give the federal government more tools to hold freight railroads accountable for safety practices.
“I’m hoping we can put politics aside and get that to the president’s desk because I know he supports it as well,” Buttigieg
said.
He said the EPA will take the lead on the environmental response to the Raymond derailment.